“I want to play at this rink and these fans,” Orlov said Tuesday. “I like the atmosphere.”

Orlov and the club decline to publicly disclose the injury, which has sidelined him for the past 32 games. But this week the 21-year-old, who played 60 games for Washington in 2011-12, was cleared for full contact in practice.

“I'm not playing and I'm mad,” Orlov said. “It's all right. We hockey players, we're sportsmen. We get injured. It's our life.”

Bears trainer Dan “Beaker” Stuck said the plan is for the 6-foot, 200-pounder to participate in full-contact practice the next two weeks. He may return to the lineup after that if everything goes well.

“I feel great,” Orlov said. “I feel happy to be on the ice with team and skate for practice. I feel good and ready to go.

“It's a long time for me. I did nothing but practice. I skated hard the past two weeks. I didn't think about my injury. I'm just ready for games, ready for practice and try to get my condition back.”

Orlov rocketed into a prominent role in Hershey's defense corps when he joined the team at 19 during the 2010-11 season. That fast-track trajectory continued in 2011-12, when he was summoned to Washington for the rest of the season after just 15 games with the Bears.

The NHL lockout meant a return to Hershey at the start of 2012-13, and Orlov's momentum stalled a bit at the same time that Tomas Kundratek, now on recall to Washington, continued to blossom. He produced 1-8-9 in 18 games before getting injured.

Regaining 2010-12 form will be Orlov's aim once he returns to the lineup.

“He's a very good offensive defenseman,” Bears head coach Mark French said. “I think we're expecting a bit of time that he's going to have to adjust to getting back into some game shape and game speed. But he's obviously a very skilled player.”

One who should provide an obvious bonus when cleared to play.

“He's been working hard the last three weeks,” Bears defenseman Patrick Wellar said. “Today he was leading our skate, so you can tell he's definitely put the extra work in away from the rink. I think he's pretty close to ready. Obviously, he's a super talent. It's going to be great once he gets back.”

Wellar, who has been paired with Orlov in practice, knows it is difficult to get back up to speed after a long layoff.

“At first, I think your timing is all messed up,” Wellar said. “It doesn't take much to lose your game shape. It's just all the fine tuning, all those little things. At first, you battle your conditioning, and then it's the timing. And then it's just confidence.

“He's such a good player. I think once he gets comfortable, it's not going to be a big adjustment for him.”

Orlov has continued to make huge strides in learning English. He has remained well-integrated with teammates even with fellow Russians Stan Galiev and Sergey Kostenko away in the ECHL.

“He was really shy [when he arrived in North America],” Wellar said. “This year, he's one of the boys.

“To be honest with you, besides a bit of the accent, you can hardly tell he's from a different country. His English is perfect now. Obviously, he's done a lot of work on it.”

Orlov previously has had a tutor. Now he is focusing on immersion and learning by watching television.

“I speak more,” Orlov said. “I can understand what coach or the guys are talking, what I need to do when the coach say it. It's a lot better. It's helped me. But I need to do better for English language.

“Hopefully, later I will be able to speak so it's just as easy for me as Russian.”